


it seems that all of my bridges have been burned

by ozmissage



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, F/M, M/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-23
Updated: 2011-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-20 16:10:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozmissage/pseuds/ozmissage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>It would be funny if he wasn't one of the monsters.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	it seems that all of my bridges have been burned

He comes home to find the world has exploded in his absence---or at least his corner of it has. The good people of Mystic Falls have officially lost their shit and become the pitchfork wielding extras from those cheesy horror flicks Tyler used to stay up late into the night watching with Matt when they were kids.

It would be funny if he wasn’t one of the monsters.

His instinct is to turn tail and run, to disappear back into the woods and pretend he’d never been there at all. But he came back for a reason and he’s pretty sure his reason is going to be on the receiving end of one of those pitchforks if he doesn’t do something about it.

A crowd is gathering in the city square, he recognizes so many of the faces, but they’re distorted now, twisted with rage and fear and _bloodlust_. He thinks he catches a glimpse of his mother, is certain of it for a moment, but the woman turns away from him too quickly for him to be sure.

He keeps his head down after that. His feet seem to decide Caroline would be with the Salvatores if she’s anywhere at all and he lets them carry him through the mob to the mansion at the edge of town.

He smells the smoke long before he sees it. The scent of burning flesh and wood fills his nostrils, makes his stomach twist. He won’t let himself stop until what’s left of the mansion comes into view. It’s little more than ashes now but still the flames lap at the dark skyline as they spread through the forest.

Mystic Falls will burn to the ground, Tyler is certain of it.

He doesn’t need to be told there were people inside the house. He can smell it, taste the death lingering in the air.

One of the many drawbacks of his curse is the way scents can overwhelm all of his other senses, _like a dog on the trail of a bone_ , his mother would say. He’s experienced it before, but never like this. A wave of nausea hits him and his legs begin to shake, his knees threaten to buckle---

Someone catches him before he hits the ground.

Tyler arches his back, tries to lash out with his fists, fear grips his heart and sends a jolt of adrenaline coursing through his body. His only thought is _fight_.

“Tyler! Stop, it’s me…”Stefan hisses in Tyler’s ear. “It’s just me.”

They drop to the ground together, Tyler breathing heavily, Stefan barely breathing at all.

“What the hell is going on? Was Caroline in there?” Tyler sputters.

Stefan’s face hardens, the muscles in his jaw clench.

“Only my brother.”

Tyler doesn’t say he’s sorry. He knows from experience how hollow the words can sound when the person saying them doesn’t mean them; he knows that sometimes it’s better to say nothing at all.

He pushes himself back to his feet. His legs have stopped quaking.

“Will you help me find her?” Tyler asks.

Stefan holds his hand out to Tyler, it’s an unnecessary, human gesture---they both know he’s more than capable of getting up on his own. But Tyler thinks maybe that’s the point.

He takes Stefan’s hand, pulling him up easily.

“Let’s go,” Stefan says without a backwards glance at the smoldering embers of his family home.

Tyler lets him lead the way.

*

There is no way to get her back that doesn’t end bloody.

They’re waiting for them, blocking the path between Stefan and Tyler and _her_ with ammo and stakes. His mother isn’t in the line of concerned citizens flanking Caroline’s house, but Caroline’s is, and Matt’s there too, staring through Tyler instead of at him. It’s a fucking nightmare.

It’s obvious they have her locked up inside. She’s the bait and Stefan’s the game.

“Don’t give them an inch,” Stefan growls, his voice is low and steady, but Tyler feels the anger bubbling just below the surface. “I’ll hold them back, you get to Caroline.”

“Are you kidding me, man? There’s like forty people---”

“Forty-three,” Stefan says staring straight ahead.

Tyler’s glad the vampire is on his side.

“Okay.”

Stefan reaches over and squeezes Tyler’s arm. For a moment, it feels as if every single person in the crowd is holding their breath, just waiting for someone to make the first move. Stefan releases Tyler’s arm.

“Go,” he whispers under his breath.

In a blink of an eye, the blood begins to flow.

Tyler dives head long into the crowd, keeps his body low and centered just like he used to when he was running with a football tucked under his arm. No one tries to stop him; they’re too busy surging toward the vampire to worry about him yet.

By the time he reaches the door the screams behind him are deafening.

*

Caroline is in her room curled on her bed among her pillows and stuffed bears when he finds her. The image is jarring. It looks so normal, Tyler could almost forget why he’s there. At least until she opens her eyes.

“Tyler?”

His name sounds slurred and he knows suddenly that there’s nothing normal about any of this.

“You didn’t think I’d leave for good, did you?” he jokes half-heartedly.

“You should have,” she mutters. “You should have never come back. They’ll kill you. They’re going to kill all of us. They took my ring, my _mom_ , Tyler. She took it and they dosed me with Vervain---”

Caroline struggles to sit up and Tyler moves to her side to help.

“I’m going to get you out of here, okay?”

“How did you even get in?” Caroline asks.

“Stefan.”

“He’s alive?”

“He was five minutes ago.”

Caroline lets out a choked sob of relief.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” she says as she eases her bare feet to the floor.

“Do you want me to…I don’t know, carry you?”

She rolls her eyes and Tyler can’t stop himself from laughing.

“I can still walk; just let me lean on you.”

Tyler passes her a pair of sneakers and then leans down so Caroline can wrap an arm around his neck. She leans into his body for support as they slowly make their way down the stairs and to the front door. Outside, things have gone ominously quiet.

Tyler opens the door.

*

The bodies are strung as far as Tyler can see and in the middle of them stands Stefan, eyes still flashing black, blood dripping down his face, staining his shirt, his hands. They’re not all dead, in fact Tyler is sure most of them are still alive---but barely so. Sheriff Forbes and Matt are untouched. They’re the only ones.

Caroline stops, forcing Tyler to stop with her, and stares at her mother and Matt.

“Why did you do this?” she asks, her voice cracking. “I just…I would have never hurt you. Not ever.”

Her mother holds her chin up, proud and stubborn. Tyler wonders what his mother thinks of him now that she knows what he is, what his father was. He hopes that it was her he saw in the crowd, hopes that she loves him enough to turn away rather than turn him in.

“You are not my daughter,” Mrs. Forbes says, but it’s apparent even she’s not sure that’s true.

“You’re wrong,” Caroline says simply. “You have no idea how wrong.”

Stefan limps toward them and Tyler notices for the first time that he’s wounded. There are bullet holes in his shirt. Dozens of them.

Stefan loops an arm around Caroline’s waist, so that she’s flanked by him and Tyler, before addressing the sheriff and Matt.

“If you get these people medical attention, some of them will live. I’m not touching the two of you out of courtesy to Caroline, but understand that if---when---you come after us, I will hurt you. You know what I’m capable of now. I don’t want to play the monster, but I will if you force my hand.”

The three of them turn in unison and begin to pick their way through the bodies.

“I picked a fucking awful day to come home,” Tyler murmurs.

*

A car is stolen. No bags are packed. No supplies. They just go; driving through the last precious hours of darkness until they reach a motel with a vacancy sign flashing. Tyler pays for a room and Stefan ushers Caroline inside before the sun peaks out over the horizon.

In between they dole out the missing pieces like telegraph messages, each of them too exhausted and too raw to offer anything more substantial.

 _Elena and Jeremy are okay. Jenna got them out weeks ago. For the best…_

 _Matt told them everything._

 _I came back because it was time. That’s all._

 _I don’t know where Bonnie is. She tried to stop them from burning the house. That was the last time I saw her._

Tyler can almost see a picture of the last couple of months forming in his mind. It’s hazy and he senses they’re not saying just as many things as they are---but it’ll hold him for now. Caroline’s safe. He’s not alone. That’s good enough.

*

Caroline falls asleep the second her head hits the pillow leaving Tyler alone to watch as Stefan digs out the wooden bullets still lodged in his chest. It’s not a pretty sight, but Tyler can’t bring himself to look away. Stefan grimaces at each one, but he barely makes a sound. There’s a tremble in has hands that worries Tyler. He doesn’t think it has anything to do with his rapidly healing wounds.

“You okay, man?” Tyler asks, keeping his voice low so he doesn’t wake Caroline.

Stefan shakes his head.

“I haven’t drunk that much human blood at once since…since a really long time ago. And I’m really pissed off. That’s not a good combination.”

“Is this going to turn into a detox kind of situation?”

“I just don’t need to be around any humans today.”

“We can make that happen.”

Stefan pulls the last bullet from his side and lowers his arm slowly.

“I think there’s one more in my back,” he says grimly.

Tyler doesn’t want to volunteer his services, but Stefan saved his ass back there. And Caroline’s. He owes the guy something. He reaches out for the tweezers and Stefan places them in Tyler’s palm. Tyler moves behind Stefan and places one hand on Stefan’s bare shoulder as he bends down to examine the wound. It’s not too deep; Stefan’s body is already working to push the wooden bullet out. He carefully catches the protruding end with the tweezers and pulls. The muscles in Stefan’s shoulder tense, but he doesn’t cry out.

“Thank you,” Stefan says sincerely.

“No problem.”

*

The thick curtains block out the midday sun so effectively Tyler can almost forget it’s still daytime. His body is signaling him that it can’t go on much longer without sleep and he’s too tired to argue with it. There are only two beds in the room. Stefan is curled on one, Caroline on the other.

Tyler slips off his shoes and climbs in beside Caroline. Her eyes snap open.

“Hey,” she whispers.

“Hey,” he replies and she rewards him with a small smile.

“I was worried about you, you know. I called. A lot.”

“Sorry. I just…I felt like crap for what I did and I needed space and time to deal with the whole werewolf thing, I guess.”

“I get that. Sort of. But you didn't have to do it alone, I missed you, Tyler.”

She slides closer to him, drops one kiss at the corner of his mouth, before moving up to meet his lips. Tyler closes his eyes as he kisses her, his tongue pressing urgently against hers, his hands at her hips drawing her closer. She’s already stronger; the effects of the vervain are clearly beginning to wear off. She pulls away slightly and Tyler tries to follow.

“Thank you for coming for me,” she says before rolling to her side, Tyler just scoots in behind her until their bodies are perfectly aligned.

*

Tyler wakes up alone to the sound of Caroline and Stefan’s low voices filtering through the crack beneath the bathroom door. Tyler raises himself up on his elbow, wincing at the sound of the bed creaking. They immediately stop talking.

Caroline exits first, her skin a bit paler than usual, but otherwise looking very much like her old self.

“I’m going on a snack run,” she announces with a false brightness.

“Like people snacks or…people _as_ snacks?” Tyler asks warily.

“People snacks for you and blood bank for me. You’re on Stefan duty.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Stefan says, but one look at him tells Tyler he does. The guy’s shaking like a junkie.

Caroline kisses Stefan lightly on the lips and Tyler tries not to flinch. She turns to lean across the bed and kiss Tyler as well.

“Don’t let him leave the room,” she whispers in his ear.

“I heard that,” Stefan says.

Caroline pops back up, all smiles again.

“I know you did. I’ll be back soon-ish, you boys play nice.”

She leaves and Tyler gets up to slide the bolt into the latch, not that it would stop Stefan if he decided to go. When he turns back around, Stefan has his face buried in his trembling hands.

“I’m not going to leave,” he says. “I want to. I can smell them from here. I can _hear_ them. There’s a woman two rooms over singing “Eleanor Rigby” in the shower. Every time I think this is behind me, something happens to remind me of what I really am.”

Tyler sighs and sinks down beside Stefan on the bed.

“She’s using lavender shampoo.”

“Who is?” Stefan asks.

“The lady in the shower. I can smell it. From here. Because I’m a fucking freak. And the wanting to rip people apart thing? I get that too. Mostly, just around the full moon, but still. It sucks. Look at it this way; at least you don’t have to go through the bone crushing transformations every month.”

Stefan snorts and falls back against the mattress. After a moment of hesitation, Tyler joins him.

“Damon would have told me to stop whining by now.”

“That’s kind of what I was getting at.”

Stefan turns slightly and Tyler can feel Stefan’s breath tickling his nose. He thinks it’s weird being this close to him. Weird, but not necessarily bad.

“I’m going to miss him. He was a pain in my ass, but---”

“He was your brother.”

“I loved him.”

 _Fuck it_ , Tyler thinks as he presses a kiss against Stefan’s lips. It’s quick and chaste, meant to comfort more than anything else, but there’s something in the way Stefan’s hand comes to rest on Tyler’s cheek, his thumb rubbing slow circles at the line of Tyler’s jaw, that tells Tyler it won’t always be this way.

*

They’re lying side by side staring at infomercials when Caroline comes in with a shopping bag full of food and blood. She hops on the bed beside them and tosses Tyler a soda and a burger.

“Did you really have enough money for all of this?” Tyler asks.

“I may have had to compel the guy working the drive through window. But it was for the greater good.”

Tyler takes a bite out of his cheeseburger and doesn’t disagree.

“So did you guys come up with a master plan?”

Tyler and Stefan exchange a sheepish glance and Caroline groans.

“Okay, so we can’t go back to Mystic Falls---obviously. But we need to find Bonnie. There’s no way she went down in that fire. She’s _Bonnie_. Anyway, I say we find her, hug her, and get her to make me a new ring…this whole not being able to go out in the sunlight thing blows and then…I don’t know.”

Tyler smiles and takes her hand.

“Then we find a place. Maybe one with a little less crazy. Is that cool with you guys?”

Caroline grins and Stefan grabs her free hand.

“It’s a plan,” he says.


End file.
